USA > Nebraska > Seward County > History of Seward County, Nebraska, and reminiscenses of territorial history > Part 7
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The Omahas were camped in their tepees on the low- lands where the smelter works and Union Pacific shops are now; bucks, squaws, papooses, ponies, dogs, and wigwams in marching disorder. They were resting for a few days on their way to their annual hunt in the Elkhorn valley region where the burly bison, elk. deer, antelope, and other game abounded, and which is now one of the agricultural gardens that constitute the backbone of the state. They were friend- ly, but sullen, and looked upon the white man with mingled expressions of sadness and curiosity. They had been bayo- neted to their doom by the merciless rapacity of the greatest land pirates on earth, and they knew their fate.
. My first patient in the new country was a man who was not very patient after I reached him in the corner of a floor- less and roofless log cabin, whose sole companion was a jug
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of whiskey which, though speechless, told the sad tale. He was dead from alcoholic poisoning. The next victim of my professional prowess was an Omaha papoose. I had brought with me a tin sign which bore the warning in gilded letter- ing of the two words, "Doctor Miller," which had done duty two years in Syracuse. I announced myself by placing it between two twisted boards of a cottonwood boarding shanty that was about fourteen feet long with a small room for the wife and baby of Mr. Bedell, the sole proprietor, who kept a boarding place without any place inside to board. My "of- fice" was on the broad prairie outside of the structure. An Indian was told that the sign meant "medicine man," and I had my second "call." to which I was in great dread of re- sponding with visions of tomahawks and scalping knives dancing through my thoughts in alarming confusion. With every hair on my head ready to rise, I invaded the Indian camp to find a beautiful child fatally sick with double pneumonia. It died the same night. and, in a joculiar way, the story was told in Sunday schools, and survives to this day with the question: "Are you the Doctor Miller who killed the papoose?" That question was asked of me a year ago on an Omaha street car. I would like to paint the scene of sorrow which touched my own heart with the keenest sympathy, with the grandfather, grandmother, father and mother of the dying child, when I gave sign to the inmates of that mourning Indian household that there was no hope for it. The next day the father appeared plastered all over with clay as a badge of sorrow, with no other dress than a breech clout and moccasins.
My professional life, so far, had not given me a very wide name for skill in my profession. At that time deer were hunted in what is now the wholesale business center of the city, and wolves yelped discordantly all over the town at night. I was homesick and wanted to "get out of the wil- derness," and made known my yearning to Gov. Thomas B. Cuming, whose name and influence had much to do with my coming out to the new country. He ordered me to go to Ann Arbor, of whose university he was a graduate, and get my wife, which I did without a day's delay, and here is the woman with the golden hair and gentle heart, as brave as
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any other soldier in the combat of trials and tribulations in the conquest of new countries who ever lived, or died.
Cuming was a remarkable man, intellectually brilliant and full of executive ability, courage and aggressive force. The death of Gov. Burt a few days after his arrival from his South Carolina home devolved upon Cuming the respon- sibility of organizing the territory under civilized rule, be- cause the Organic Act provided that the secretary of the territory should be the acting governor on the death or in the absence of the governor. With what intelligent resolu- tion and wisdom he created counties, election districts, polls for voting where there were no voters, and the first legislat- ive body for the enactment of laws, all by the fiat of proc- lamations, which were models of style, history will not allow future generations to forget. One illustration of how the first law-givers of Nebraska were created must suffice. It was the Burt county district to which, I think, one member of the Council (Senate) and two representatives were allotted. There was not a white resident in all that region. But B. L. Folsom, a resourceful pioneer and a near relative of Mrs. Grover Cleveland, was equal to the occasion, and he, H. C. Purple of Council Bluffs, and two or three others started out from Omaha one fine morning with a team, tent, equipage, and both solid and liquid supplies, to have an election in Burt county. And they had it after this fashion: they pitched their tent in Washington county. instead of Burt, opened the polls, and voted for themselves, and each other in due form; the ballots being deposited in a cigar box; a canvas of the ballots was made on the spot by the voters who acted as an election board; they were all "elected," for- mal "returns" were made out and sent to Gov Cumings, and certificates of election were duly issued upon which they took their seats in the capitol of the Territory where they served forty days and many nights in bringing it under codes of civil and criminal law. I was thosen chief clerk of the Council, which consisted of thirteen members, by a majority of one vote. Joseph L. Sharp, representing the Cass coun- ty district, was actually a citizen and resident of Glenwood, Iowa, and never resided in Nebraska a day in his life, either then or afterwards, but was chosen president of the Council,
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and he was a very able and dignified presiding officer. My pay was $4.00 per diem for keeping the legislative journals, and I worked on an average fifteen hours a day. My home that winter was about a mile and one-half northwesterly from the scene of my labors, and consisted of a single room, perhaps twelve by fourteen feet in area walled in by cotton- wood boards which were decorated on the inside by one coat of what was called plaster, which was mostly clay, and which seemed to have been thrown on the wall with a scoop shov- el. That home was in keeping with other hovels in which the founders of Omaha lived that winter; and the one room served as parlor, bed-room, kitchen and laundry with great versatility. A single tallow candle at the only window, which was of an unpainted sash, was my guiding star as I walked and wandered at about one o'clock at night, not one human habitation intervening on the way from the capitol to the frail box in which I lived. But for the mild and beautiful winter of 1854-55, the place would have been unin- habitable. Food supplies for the people came from Coun- cil Bluffs and the sparse settlements near that town, except side meat of hogs, canned stuff, with cove oysters from Bal- timore. Eggs were so scarce that as high as a dollar a doz- en was paid for them by the few who could pay the price. It may be said that the first year of the white occupation was one of doubt, hope, and expectation, just as subsequent years were those of gradual discovery and advancement. The panic of 1857 practically destroyed and depopulated Omaha. No agriculture, no railroads or telegraphs, no com- munication, except occasional boats by river marked this part of the country, and revival came only through the dis- covery of gold in Colorado, which was soon followed by the construction of the Union Pacific railroad.
I cannot better close this article than by a mere mention of the larger men who laid the foundations of Nebraska. The Mortons, Masons, Nuckolls, and Furnas of the South Platte section; the Cumings, Creightons, Poppletons, Pat- ricks, Merediths, Woolworths, Hanscome, Ferguson, Esta- brook, Lakes, Byers, Doanes, Wakeleys and Folsoms of the North Platte, are names that will live on in the history of
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the now young and powerful state among its chief founders, and future generations will preserve them with honor in its enduring annals. GEO. L. MILLER.
DR. GEORGE L. MILLER
One of the few Nebraska architects and great builders who helped to lay broad and deep foundations fifty years ago is the person of Dr. Miller, physician, editor, and orator. Our great and honored citizen was born among the rugged hills of old York state at Boonville, in 1830. Like most New York boys, George put in much time grubbing brush, burn- ing log heaps, picking up stone, and navigating a stone boat, but this manner of life did not quite suit the high- minded boy. He was one of the kind that took to books, and many an old tallow dip did he burn in gaining knowl-
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edge of the world. He outgrew the little red school house of his day, and hied himself away to Syracuse, where he, in due time, graduated in the College of Physicians, in 1852. Then he stuck up his shingle in Syracuse and practiced two years, when he heard of Nebraska, just as it was organized as a territory. He was not long in finding the trail which he followed to Omaha. However, before coming west he had wooed and won the heart and hand of Miss Harriet E. Dickinson December, 1853, at Syracuse, and their wedding trip was toward the setting sun. She was a native of Syra- cuse, born in 1834. The Doctor practiced his profession in the little city with success for about eleven years, but some. how while ministering to the wants of the sick, he had his keen eye on politics, and took a great interest in the great questions of the day. It cannot be said that Dr. Miller was ever an office seeker. He was more a sort of a power behind the throne, in his party. In the councils of his party he was always, and even to this day, a leader. In 1865 he dropped the pill bags, and founded the Omaha Herald, which he edited with great ability for twenty-three years. Under his guiding hand the Democratic party had a great defender and wise exponent. The Herald never forgot Omaha, and our Nebraska always had a true and valuable friend. The Doctor did very much for his city and state by the use of his ever ready and able pen. Some years ago he met with fi- nancial disaster with so many other brave Nebraska men, and his ample fortune was swept away, and at the same time the fire fiend visited his home and the beautiful mansion at Seymour Park was destroyed. About the same time the death angel visited the home and took his life companion from him. After years of loneliness, he found a new com- panion, Miss Frances Briggs, a New Hampshire lady, and he is again blessed in his old age with a home where love dwells. Dr. Miller is an honored member of the A. F. and A. M., and the church home is with the Trinity Episcopal people.
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J. STERLING MORTON, THE FATHER OF ARBOR DAY
Others will write the story of the life and labors of Sec- retary Julius Sterling Morton, but we deem it a privilege to pay this small tribute to the memory of one that has done so much for Nebraska. In 1902, just after Mr. Morton was called from earth, it was our privilege to wander over Califor- nia and our way led us through the great redwood grove near Sante Cruz, where we were permitted to dedicate a great tree to the memory of our friend. This beautiful tree of ponderous size stands in the middle of the great park. It is
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symmetrical, lifting its branches two hundred and seventy feet.
Upon our return home at the meeting of the Nebras- ka Historical Society, a resolution was offered and adopted to place a bronze tablet upon the tree in memory of the Father of Arbor Day. The author and Dr. Geo. L. Miller, of Omaha, were appointed a committee to attend to the matter. A beautiful bronze tablet was secured. It was two feet square, containing this inscription; on the upper left hand corner was the mandate, "Plant truths," on the upper right hand corner the words, "Plant trees."
"In memory of J. Sterling Morton, Father of Arbor Day, Born April 22, 1832; Died April 26, 1902. By order of State Historical So- ciety of Nebraska."
In 1904 on Arbor day the good people of Sante Cruz, led by the Mayor and assisted by the city schools, received the tablet with fitting ceremonies and placed it on the great tree.
Letters from President Roosevelt, Secretary Wilson and many other distinguished men were read and the follow- ing address from chairman Cox, of the committee, to the people of California was read:
To his Excellency Governor Pardee, and the Hon. D. C.
Clark, Mayor of Sante Cruz, California, and All the Good People of the Golden State, the People of Nebras- ka Send Greeting:
.
In the name and by the authority of the State Histori- cal Society of Nebraska, it becomes our pleasant duty to pre- sent to you this beautiful bronze tablet in memory of our greatest citizen that has finished his work and gone to his reward on, this, the seventy-second anniversary of his birth, and on the thirty-second anniversary of Arbor day as established by the legislature of our young commonwealth.
.
May I tell you in brief of the life work of Julius Ster- ling Morton.
He accomplished two praiseworthy feats in the state of Michigan before his removal to Nebraska. He graduated in the state university at Ann Arbor, then married Miss Joy and with his noble bride came straightway to the new territory of Nebraska in 1854, where he at once commenced
.
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helping to lay deep and broad foundations for our great commonwealth.
He was among the very first to put in motion, that en- gine of magic power, the printing press, editing the Nebras- ka City News, commencing in the spring of 1855. The pa- per was first published in the old government block house.
He was one among the first to till our virgin soil. He located at what the world now knows as Arbor Lodge, near Nebraska City, and there began in a business way to make a home. He and his good wife began planting trees and it would do your soul good, ladies and gentlemen, to see Arbor Lodge to-day, with its wealth of shade and fruit.
Mr. Morton was called by President Buchanan to other duties. He became secretary of the infant territory, and was acting governor twice during his administration. He per- formed well whatever his hands found to do, but his politi- cal creed was not in accord with the majority of our state and for long years it became his pleasant duty to lead our people to a higher plain in agriculture. He became a model farmer, but his principal delight and highest ambition was to clothe our boundless prairies with groves of timber. He saw the great necessity of our people. He saw with his keen eye the wanton waste of our forests in the states, where nature had blessed the people with forests. His great soul was all on fire on this important subject. It was his study by day and by night. His great efforts and the inspiration of his life caused such an awakening that con- gress took the matter in hand and passed the timber culture act and the forest reserve act, and the Nebraska legisla- ture was induced to name Arbor day as a holiday and also encourage the planting of trees by relieving certain lands from taxation, where timber was planted and cultivated. Nebraska taking the lead in establishing Arbor day as a hol- iday, nearly all our states have followed as well as many na- tions of the world. When Nebraska became a state in 1867 it was a boundless prairie, with scarcely a tree or shrub in sight, except along a few of the streams. Now it is dotted all over with beautiful groves of timber, aggregating thous- ands of millions of trees. The great middle west is now beautiful with hundreds of thousands of groves that are a
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joy to all beholders, giving shelter from the chilling winter winds and a cooling shade in summer, and adding a great wealth of fuel and useful timber for a thousand uses.
One of the sages wrote the axiom: "The man who causes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew be- fore, is a benefactor." Then how much more is our hero a benefactor, that has led the way in planting countless mill- ions of the grandest plants upon the earth.
In recognition of his great service to the country and to mankind, President Cleveland called him to a place in his cabinet, and he became, in 1892, the secretary of agriculture. In organizing the department of agriculture he displayed such business ability that he was soon recognized as the master mind of the administration.
Now, my fellow citizens of our great republic, is it not most fitting that this noble character should have his name carried to future generations as an inspiration ? And now we ask the good and wise people of California to accept this table and place it upon this giant of the forest, he loved so well. Grand tree, that has stood for so many centuries, 'till thou hast, with thy roots, penetrated deeply in the soil of California, and upon thy great symmetrical trunk, lifted thy evergreen sombrero high up toward the sky, where it has kissed the breezes of the great ocean for thousands of years. Now thou hast another duty to perform.' Thou mayest carry upon thy body this memorial of thy greatest friend, as an inspiration to all people, and countless gener- ations yet unborn. May thy majestic form stand through the coming centuries, the delight of all beholders bearing this precious memorial in everlasting bronze, and may the children to the remotest generation gain a new and better inspiration as they gaze upon the ponderous form in all your grandeur, bearing the name of one that has accomp- lished so much for humanity!
With the kindest regards of all true Nebraskans, to your great and growing commonwealth, we have the honor of being your obedient servant, W. W. Cox,
Chairman Committee.
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i
GENERAL JOHN M. THAYER
Full fifty years ago John came to Nebraska from the Old Bay state where he was born, 1820. He received a lib- eral education and spent his young manhood as teacher in the common schools, and was married in 1843 to Miss Mary T. Allen, of his native state. They were the parents of six children, two of which yet live, viz., Geo. D. and John M., Jr.
Mr. Thayer had not long to wait in Nebraska until there was something to do.
The first legislature in the winter of 1855 made Mr. Thayer commander of the militia to defend the frontier from the marauding Indians and he performed these duties from 1855 to 1861.
,
.
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General Thayer had led squads of militia at different times against troublesome Indians, but the story which we wish to tell here is a peculiar episode in military history. The Pawnees had been committing depredations along the Elkhorn river, and urgent word was sent to Omaha asking for protection. The Governor was absent at least from Oma- ha and Secretary J. Sterling Morton was in that case com- mander-in-chief of the militia. It was suspected that Gov. Black might be absent from the territory.
The Secretary saw there was an emergency and a hur- ried consultation with General Thayer resulted in an order to march at once against the red-skins. Gen. Thayer prompt- ly obeyed the order. He raised about forty men in Omaha and left that night at midnight and pushd on to Fontanelle where the panic stricken people were assembled. Two days later a sufficient force was gathered to pursue the Pawnees with a force of one hundred and ninety-four men. He had one cannon, the only piece of artillery in the territory. He took the trail and pursued the Indians in hot haste. There were five thousand Pawnees and they had devastated the whole settlement along the Elkhorn river. They had tive hundred ponies and these had been turned into the growing crops of the settlers.
The commander had secured the co-operation and assit- ance of Gen. Curtis, an Iowa citizen, and Lieutenant Robin- son of the U. S Cavalry dragoons and with the force as well organized as possible under the conditions, they were push- ing to the front. When Gov. Black got wind of what was going on he immediately took the trail and appeared in camp the 4th day just at night fall. The Governor of course was commander-in-chief. but unfortunately hear, he was par- tially intoxicated. Now Gen. Thayer, (He had had that title conferred by the Legislature) was in a "quandry" to know just what to do with a commander over him in a state of in- toxication.
The general found the governor's demijohn while the governor was asleep and emptied it. Far away from civiliza- tion and long before the terrible scenes of the war in which Gen. Thayer so wonderfully distinguished himself, he was brought face to face with one of the most trying ordeals of
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his eventful life with all the responsibility of success or failure resting upon his shoulders with a commander-in-chief over him in a condition of intoxication.
They were in the noon camp the following day with Gov. Black hid away from public gaze in a tent guarded by soldiers, when the governor sent for Lieutenant Robinson to come to the tent. The lieutenant obeyed. When the governor issued this famous order, "Colonel, I order you to take seventy-five men and go over to Columbus (away over on the Platte) and procure.ten barrels of whiskey and four sacks of flour."
Col. Robinson was schooled in the regular army and knew that orders of superior must be obeyed. Gen. Thayer rose to the occasion. He readily learned that this famous order would create insubordination in the camp. Loud mutterings were heard among the men cursing the governor. Gen. Thayer at once mounted his horse and in a sentorian voice he called out "Attention Battalion! Fall into line! and prepare to march." Every man rose to his position and obeyed orders. There was no more sign of mutiny; that ques- tion was settled.
He then detailed two soldiers to take the governor from the tent, place him in an ambulance and take seats beside him and allow no man to approach him but himself, and if he objects "You put him in at all hazards."
The General saw that he must act promptly and with determination, and it ended the trouble. The expedition was successful. It met fourteen hundred warriors and sub- dued them without (by strategy) firing a gun. We would gladly follow up this interesting story of the Pawnee war but space forbids. We, however, refer the reader to pages 231 to 246 of volume 5 of the second series of the Nebraska Historical Transactions for a full account of the same.
When the thunder drums began to beat in the year of 1861, our friend readily heard and at once set about organ- izing the Nebraska first regiment, of which he was elected the first Colonel. That grand regiment that did such grand work in the Sanguinary conflicts, where it had such an hon- orable part. Its history, if it could all be told, would make a volume of surpassing interest, and we have thought that
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if it should fall to our lot to ever write another book, that above all subjects we would choose the work of the Nebraska First on the field of glory.
We cannot tell here of the thousand valorous deeds of Colonel Thayer, Brigadier General Thayer and of Major General Thayer. They are written in the chronicles of the greatest conflict of history. His name shines out grandly among the bright stars. Always true and brave, always kind and gentle and always ready to dare and do what his Chief commanded. When the white dove of peace again came to bless our land, Gen. Thayer returned to us covered with honors. Our first state legislature honored him with a seat in the United States senate, where in the troublous days of re-construction, he did good work for the country, while never forgetting his loved Nebraska. Then he was honored by his old Commander, General Grant, by the ap- pointment as Governor of Wyoming Territory; and then the good people of his adopted state conferred upon him twice the honors (the greatest in their gift) of Governor of the state. Truely he has been a most faithful servant and is justly entitled to all honors.
He has now retired from active life, but in his green old age he enjoys the love and friendship of a grateful peo- ple. His noble life companion was taken from him some years ago and the dear old man now in his 86th year, just having passed the 85th mile stone, now has to "tread the wine press alone."
GOV. ROBERT WILKINSON FURNAS
Is a man so well known to this generation of Nebras- kans that our poor pen is hardly capable of doing him jus- tice. In the language of another, he was a man that "does things."
Governor was a man of "strenuous life." The first im- portant step he took in Nebraska was to edit a live paper, the Brownville Advertiser. It was a first class, newsy, clean paper intended to advance the best interests of the new Ter- ritory. It was republican in politics. The Advertiser
HISTORY OF SEWARD COUNTY, NEBRASKA
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